Leaderboard

CEDAC stands for Cause and Effect Diagram with the Addition of Cards. It was developed by Dr. Ryuji Fukuda, at Sumitomo Electric, as a tool for continuous systematic improvement. The CEDAC board helped to identify causes of specific problems and to identify, test and institute process improvement in a participatory approach. 350 CEDAC projects were initiated, tried and tested by Sumitomo Electric with extraordinary results. It was proven to be an effective tool and the concept was appreciated as it could be applied to a variety of situations – Design problems, Communication Problems, Set Up Problems, downtime problems and many other problems an organization faces regularly and commonly. Today the concept is used in many organisations which believe in participatory approach and development of solutions for any problem at the helm of the workplace. How Does a CEDAC work?? It is apt to say that CEDAC is an enhancement of the Fishbone diagram, which accentuates the process that allows team members to build on each other’s ideas from a brainstorming session. <Diagram 1> 1) The team should agree on a problem to be analysed and solved- <Diagram 1> is a CEDAC board for the problem of Hitrate of on time food delivery 2) Determine the major categories which can be cause or have effect on the problem 3) Think of possible causes in each category and jot them in sticky notes (Post it stickers) and stick them on the CADEC Board in the blue zone (Left Side) in each Category box 4) Use the “5 Whys” tool to search for root causes and jot them on the sticky notes and connect them to the various other contributing factors. 5) This board can be placed like a bulletin board at the “Gemba” with an invitation for the whole team to examine and possibly add some more causes that they feel are relevant for the problem statement. 6) The team should be encouraged to also post their ideas of solution for the causes of the problems, on the Yellow zone for respective categories (right side) of the line. ** Sticky note pads of both colors need to be made available** The above six steps ensure that the causes and solutions keep coming in tandems. The solutions need to be analyzed for the impact and effect and prioritized based upon the maximum benefit. The idea is to implement the solutions and reduce & eliminate the causes that impact the problem statement. The Board needs to be updated as and when a cause reduces. The status of performance improvement also need to be updated. This way the activity has an immediate feedback mechanism. This improves the motivation for participation. The above method was implemented in an organization, by me, wherein food delivery was a channel for sale. It is common knowledge that “Timely Delivery” is the most important deliverable for the customer to appreciate the transaction, followed by Quality of appearance, taste etc. The fact is that in most of the food products, the time spent in delivery also impacts the quality of food negatively in direct proportion. Hence, the problem statement was about Hitrate of Delivery (percentage of orders delivered within the stipulated and committed time of 30 minutes). Internally the objective was to close the order within 30 minutes, ie. The rider would return to the outlet after completing a single order within 30 minutes- That would confirm that the customer has received the order within 30 minutes. The CADEC approach was applied in 5 sample outlets- The idea was that the most common and effective learnings would be applied across all the outlets during a roll out. The impactful Insights that were derived from the CEDAC Board were: # Categories Causes Solution 1 People - Non availability of Riders - New Riders took longer to reach the Customer as lack of area knowledge - Incentive on attendance and productivity - Soft copies of maps were developed with area land marks 2 Trading Area - Trading area was not defined- distance of delivery was very high in many orders which took lot of time , and consequently the orders pending for delivery also got delayed - Trading area was rationalised to a seven minutes riding distance during peak traffic times. This actually ensured that we were able to deliver food to the customers on time and the repeat business grew after a period of time. 3 Design of Outlet & Process - The Delivery section was too far from the Exit it took that much time more. - The Bike parking area was too Far from the Exit - Orders of delivery took more time to prepare as the home delivery orders are mostly of units of product - Special section was created for delivery where the 5S approach was followed to improve efficiency. - Bike Parking and maintenance was given due diligence - Orders for delivery were given priority and the 5S approach at the Delivery section helped a lot in saving time for production, assembly and packaging of the orders - Large orders with more than 15 units of products were given separate status as "High value orders and the delivery time was extended and conveyed to the customer. This reduced the customer's anxiety. 4 IT & Equipments - There was no method to confirm the actual delivery time of the order - Bikes and kitchen equipments needed to be upgraded - Applications were developed to ensure that riders could update the delivery and payment times. - Rider tracking GPS was incorporated in the application - Bikes and equipments were upgraded with a proper preventive maintenance calendar in place 5 Customer - Customer Data base was not very neat with address information being incorrect - Customers would take time to receive order or make payment , thereby delaying the rider for the pickup/ delivery of next order - Existing Customers were called and addresses were rectified. A standard format of registration for address was instituted. Order takers were trained to follow the address confirmation process and entry in the Delivery software. - Customers were sent messages on phone in advance before the rider reached them, to remind them to keep the payment handy The results were nothing less than awesome. We not only saw an excellent Hitrate , but also a steady growth in orders and revenue- a brand revival !! Some points that we have to take note of; - Ensure that all members participate in some way or other and no one is allowed to overpower anybody’s opinion in any way- it has to be a receptive process - A “NO BLAME” atmosphere with mutual respect needs to be instituted. - Categories must be defined well within the team and ideas beyond the defined categories should also be given due respect- “Only an unshared idea is a bad idea, else no shared idea is bad” Some other benefits that were realised. - Team Bonding - The team learnt a constructive approach to resolve issues - We realized the potential of some people from within the team- we had such wonderful people who were prospective leaders of the future. This was one of the best projects I have led and the CEDAC approach was the inspiration and method behind it.